WALTHAM, Mass. – The No. 18 nationally ranked Southern Connecticut State University Owls was defeated by Bentley University, 79-52 in the Northeast-10 Conference championship game. The Falcons started out fast in the first half, going on a 16-to-3 run. SCSU committed a few turnovers and a couple shot clock violations kept Southern from scoring. The Owls didn't get onto the board until 16:30 when Camille Fantini (Andover, Mass.) hit a three-point shot. Southern Connecticut cut the lead down to four, going on a 12-to-3 run of their own.  Bentley went back up after that, to a lead as high as 22 points and managed to hold a double-digit lead throughout much of the first half. The 22-point lead came with less than a minute to play in the first half. At the end of the half, Bentley was up 50-28. SCSU committed 16 turnovers in the first half. Sylvonya Moore led the Owls with 11 points in the half.





The second half started out as a defensive battle, with Bentley still holding onto a 22-point lead through the first five minutes. Bentley built the lead to a game-high 30 points with nine minutes remaining in the game. The Owls tried to chip away at the lead but had trouble stopping the Bentley offense. 26 turnovers proved to be too costly to the Owls.




Sylvonya Moore led the Owls with 17 points. Moore also added two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Moni Smith-Ocran (Bronx, N.Y.) controlled the boards for the Owls, grabbing seven rebounds to go along with 10 points and two steals. Mariah Hankton (Upper Marlboro, Md.) collected 10 points and three assists off the bench for Southern Connecticut.




Both Moore and Smith-Ocran were named to the All-Tournament team after the conclusion of the game.




Southern Connecticut dropped to 24-5 on the season. The Owls will wait for the division II tournament field to be announced tonight at 10 to see who they will play next.